Model, masti and diwali dhamaka

Pragati Verma & Manoj Gairola, TNNSep 19, 2003, 12.56am IST

Mobile phone manufacturers are cranking out new models by the armloads to tap into the festival demand that's just about beginning to ring in. On offer is every gadget -- top-of-the line camera-fitted and PC-enabled phones as well as rough and ready, price aggressive, entry-level handsets.

Mobile phone vendors are in a fetive mood. Be prepared for a flurry of handsets before Diwali from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Alcatel, Motorola and Samsung. Hardly surprising considering many of the telecom company CEOs have long-standing FMCG backgrounds where festival-marketing is de riguer.

And the action is not limited to the sleek feature-laden high-end segment alone. Indeed vendors are equally aggressive in low-priced handsets "specially made for new growth markets like India''. You will be spoilt for choice and the resultant confusion could be as high as the legendary cellular tariffs.

While the expensive phones are promising gizmos from cameras to pocket PCs to games, the fight is on for the lowest pricing at the bottom end. Market pundits estimate about 80% of the phones sold in markets like India are entry level compared to about 20% in countries like Japan, Hong Kong and Sweden. Most companies target affordable basic handsets for volume growth in low penetration markets like India and at the same time go in for value growth through gizmos and tap the non-voice segment in mature markets. While the bulk of sales in European markets are contributed by the existent phone users wanting to upgrade their phones, countries like India and Russia are dominated by first time users. And quite a few phones are being developed by the likes of Nokia and Sony Ericsson especially for countries like India as more than three-fourths of global subscription is estimated to come from new growth markets in the next five years with 100 million subscribers expected in India itself.

While Nokia has just announced two phones for entry-level users, Sony Ericsson's recently announced array of phones is equally bullish on its low-priced models even though it is pushing its expensive gadgets. Alcatel too has a phone just below Rs 4000. And promising to bring the prices even lower are Chinese companies like Bird whose models should give the top players a run for the bottom-end of the market .

Nokia launched 7250 I model in August priced at Rs 25,000. The company has placed it in the fashion category complete with an integrated digital camera. One can capture an image and send it across as an MMS. One can also take a print out. And the phone offers WAP browsing and Java technology that allows one to download business applications and games. It is triband. This means that one can use this phone even in the USA. This phone comes with integrated stereo FM radio. This is popular among fashion designers, film stars, models, and the creme de la creme. Of course, the most expensive phone from Nokia is the 9210 I model. It is priced at Rs 37,599. It is like a small computer and has a proper keyboard as well. And it has a large memory and is loaded with word, powerpoint, and excel. It also has fax features and other add-ons that the corporate jet set find attractive. Nokia has also announced plans to launch two entry level phones - the 1,100 & 2,300 models. However, the company has not yet announced the prices. These models are likely to be launched in the last quarter of this financial year.

Alcatel, a relatively new entrant in the market, recently unveiled its One Touch 320 model at the entry level. Priced at Rs 3995, this phone is available in two colours - silver grey and blue. This phone comes with a loud speaker for hands-free calls. Users can choose their ring tone from 15 polyphonic tunes. Its battery gives a talk time of seven hours and 120 hours of standby time.

In September, Motorola announced the launch of two new handsets - the E 365 and V 295. The E365 is a high end product. It can support up to 65,000 colors and has a beautiful active-matrix display ideal for showcasing picturesque wallpapers. This handset has an onboard digicam with photographs of up to 640 x 480-pixel resolution with the ability to store up to 32 of these in the phone's memory. It is a dualband (GSM 900/1800) with WAP and GPRS capabilities. Other features include polyphonic ringing tones - the phone includes 40 melodies and sound effects and five games. The phone is available for Rs 14,995 in the Indian market. Its V295 model is not yet available in India.

Motorola's A388c is the most expensive phone from the company available locally. It is priced at Rs 23,995. This phone is capable of supporting up to 65,000-colors. Features like e-mail, IM, Internet, PIM/PDA functions, photos, JAVA(tm) technology, custom ring tones are available on this phone.

What is unique about this phone is its capability of supporting group SMS and management of email accounts for up to five different profiles, and POP3, IMAP4, MIME, SMTP. The handsets have Truesync? software which synchronizes with most PC's, PIM's or PDA's.

Other features are - downloadable wallpaper, themes, screensavers and ring tunes, J2ME(tm) colour-enabled for enhanced downloadable games and productivity applications, Icon-driven user interface with handwriting recognition and on-screen keyboards, PC-downloadable colour photo album, 7 MB of memory, external caller ID, WAP browser with GPRS and fast, 'always-on' Internet connection. These two phones are becoming popular with corporate and high end subscribers.